Belfort

Administrative centre of the département of the Territoire de Belfort in the Franche-Comté region of northeast France (see Belfort, Territoire de), situated on the River Savoureuse, in the Trouée de Belfort (Belfort Gap), a 24 km/15 mi pass between the Vosges and Jura mountains; population (1999) 50,400. The town is the centre of a trade in wine and grain, and its industries include chemicals, engineering, plastics, and textiles.

History The town dates from Roman times and was ceded to France by Austria in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The military engineer Vauban was responsible for its fortification. Because of its strategic position, the town has been subjected to a number of sieges. The city's symbol is taken from a large sandstone carving of a lion by Frédéric Bartholdi to commemorate the sieges of 1814, 1815, and 1870. The siege of 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, lasted for three months. In World War I Belfort was part of the Allied Front Line on the Western Front. In World War II it was occupied by the Germans.